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Dental patients ‘want to complain but don’t’

A quarter of dental patients (26%) have wanted to complain about their dental care but didn't.

That's to according to a survey by the Dental Complaints Service (DCS).

Of the dental patients surveyed, a third (37%) had complained about some aspect of their dental care, says the DCS, which is free to use and which has helped resolve more than 5,000 complaints about private dental care since its launch three years ago.

Half (53%) of those in the survey who did complain to their dental practice felt their complaint wasn't resolved satisfactorily.

The most common cause of complaints (13%) was ineffective treatment, followed by the cost of treatment (12%).

When it came to complaints that patients wanted to make but didn't, the most common reason was the cost of treatment (33%), followed by ineffective treatment (14%), inconvenient appointments (13%) and unnecessary treatment (13%).

Most common reasons not to complain were because it wouldn't ‘be worth it' (35%), patients lacked confidence (17%), or they feared ‘negative comeback' (15%).

Nine per cent of those who failed to complain didn't know where to take their complaint.

Ten per cent of those surveyed – 12% of men and 8% of women – never went to the dentist. Men who did and complained were more likely (49%) to be satisfied than women (44 per cent). A third (37%) of dental patients had never wanted to complain.

In the last three years, the DCS has received more than 20,000 calls and the facility can also advise on where to go with complaints about NHS dentistry.

The DCS was set up by, but is independent of, the General Dental Council (GDC).